Dear Ecofem, How is everyone? I've been busy with transition from college back to the work force and I seriously regret that it has taken me away from discussions on this list. I miss everyone, I miss our discussions, tremendously. I have to admit the job has been a disaster. Nothing in my live prepared me for southeast Alaska. The politics, the complete lack of conscious awareness of the simplest of things, recycling is virtually non-existent here. This community is littered heavily with human trash on the ground and in the water, gum, paper, cigarette butts everywhere and when we wonder off the main road on this island, my son and I always find parts of rusted cars, refrigerators, tires, boats, motors on the side of the dirt roads and trails in forested areas. We have our work cut out for us. I wasn't completely surprised after 7 months of living here to go to a Forest Service public comment hearing and have the six people ahead of me (signed up to speak) bash environmentalists, including local elected officials. One gentleman (?) the husband of a former mayor here in town called for the death of anyone (forest service employees, federal agents, environmentalists) who dare get in the way of this town's 'progress.' The people in the room applauded him, including my employer. I'm still trying to understand how this mentality came to be. I've learned that it has much to do with the closure of a major government subsidized pulp mill, Louisiana-Pacific. The story is 50 years long.. about frauding the timber sales program by using 'front' businesses to acquire trees, about union busting, toxic waste, arsenic dumped on logs in a major salmon spawning ground to kill 'burrito' bugs. It appears to me that a high incidence of cancer and birth defects exist in this city of 14,000, although no one admits any connection to the pulp mill pollutants. The people.. doctors, scientists, concerned citizens now called 'those heinous environmentalists' ... many have left the area after serious intimidation, including job loss and shots fired at the most vocal. I've been in Ketchikan, Alaska for 10 months. It's an amazing part of America. It wasn't long after I arrived that I learned that the local government hadn't offered the public the simplest of voter's guides for over five years. I thought I could do something positive. With graphic skills and mac system at home, I could produce one as a donation to the community. With the help of two people I petitioned both the city and the borough (similar to a county in the lower 48 states) to offer the public a voter's guide for the upcoming elections. I learned a lesson then, at a live televised city council meeting, how things run this town. Four men behind their podium literally screamed at me and another woman advocate for this proposal. We were called 'squawking ducks' and dangerous to the borough seats. So much for the grand notion of democracy in Ketchikan. We were portrayed as militant saboteurs. I did put a voter's guide on the web, with issues and candidate statements from those who submitted campaign information, in spite of the daily paper's news article saying we had been defeated. On March 16, just a few weeks ago, my employer told me to vacate the building, three days after I'd given my two week notice. Six days after she learned that I was organizing a campaign to protect the Tongass national forest in my off hours. I believe this abrupt action on her part stemmed from a form of punishment for my involvement in forest protection that I refused to accept. On the bright side, this gives me more time to organize. Unemployment kicks in soon, and I've been able to acquire some assistance through social services while I look for another position (outside of Ketchikan most likely, as there are currently no viable positions here) to support my 11-year-old son at home and my oldest in college back in Idaho. In all honesty, I couldn't have asked for a better time to be unemployed in this town. Thank you for reading this far. I need your help, the Tongass needs your help. It's hard to believe, but clear-cuts are being processed through the timber sales program 100 acres in size on this forest. That's only part of the picture, the terrain is extremely steep, 70% (plus) slope in many of these places. Very sensitive soils, still generating from glacier recession, karst and muskeg being roaded over to get to the best of what exists. Through what feels like millions of keystrokes characters to organizations all over Alaska and the United States, Ketchikan will have a summer outreach campaign to include the Tongass National Forest during the upcoming United States roadless initiative public comment period (anticipated release of the Draft Environmental Impact Study is mid-May with a 60-day comment period to follow). Fortunately, many organizations across the country are working on this too, in many cities across the nation. Our Ketchikan effort is only a small part that I hope will increase the success of Tongass inclusion. I'd like to share this with everyone on the list and encourage your participation, your endorsement for this campaign either here or through one of the many organizations working on roadless. Again, thank you for getting this far into this lengthy email. I'm very grateful that you've taken time to read this and I hope you'll read on about this US outreach campaign. I'll start with what is up at the Alaska Rainforest Campaign's web site: Urgent: Protect Roadless Wildlands of Alaska. Alaska�s Tongass National Forest urgently needs your help! The Clinton Administration may decide to exclude the Tongass � our largest national forest � from his recently announced proposal that would protect the remaining roadless wildlands of all other national forests. The Tongass is the heart of the world�s largest remaining expanse of coastal temperate rainforest. Today, even with new management in place, most Tongass logging will still take place in unroaded, old-growth rainforest, and efforts to increase cut levels are underway. The proposal to protect these roadless wildlands is a great idea � as long as it does two things: One, it must cover ALL National Forests, INCLUDING the Tongass, and Two, the protections must stop logging, mining and other exploitation. A watered down version of the proposal would only stop new roads. Helicopter logging and other damaging activities that don�t require roads could be permitted. President Clinton�s proposal to protect roadless areas leaves the fate of the Tongass open for now. Whether he decides to include the Tongass depends on the amount of public support expressed during the official Forest Service comment period now underway. <http://www.akrain.org> -- For those following this roadless issue, it is true that it will do little for forests east of the Mississippi. National Forests like the Chippewa have only 77 acres that are roadless, Superior's 5-digit numbers of 'roadless' acres are ridden with what are called 'in-holdings' that prevent any real protection in this initiative -- but in the western United States this initiative has the potential to save millions of acres of national lands from further degradation. I posted this last night on a national list of no-cut supporters: -- Two good reasons to work on roadless in the upcoming months: Idaho and Alaska! - and yes its true activists in Alaska are as rare as a free bear in Idaho. YOUR HELP IS NEEDED ON THE TONGASS THIS SUMMER! Sitka Conservation Society, Alaska Rainforest Campaign, along with Joshua Martin (Indiana) and Donna Anderson (Alaska) are coordinating a summer campaign to bring in 20,000 (plus) comments in favor of Tongass inclusion out of Ketchikan, Alaska. 14 million inventoried roadless acres in Alaska folks. 1/4 of all roadless land in the national forest system not permanently protected by federal law. Steep slopes, karst, muskeg, ocean/inside passage, critical wildlife habitat and watershed. The Federal Registry document posted March 3, 2000 by the forest service briefly suggests that the Tongass is a special circumstance which may warrant exclusion from the roadless policy. No one in government offices has been specific as to how the Tongass figures into the roadless mix.... (11686 Federal Register/Vol. 65, No. 43 / Friday, March 3, 2000 / Notices) �However, the Tongass National forest may constitute a special situation. Consistent with the April 1999 Record of Decision for the Tongass National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, the Regional Forester has authority to determine that a compelling need exists in seeking to meet market demand for timber, to the extent consistent with providing for the multiple use and sustained yield of all renewable forest resources, pursuant to the Tongass Timber Reform Act (1990) and all other applicable laws.� 1) WE NEED YOUR PRESENCE. Shelter and nourishment will be available to all who participate in this outreach campaign May 1 to Aug. 1, 2000. We will be distributing literature about Alaska�s wild rainforest and collecting comments on the roadless policy, National Forest Protection Alliance literature as well. We will be speaking to politicians, locals, tourists, �silent� organizations - from May 1 to August 1. The urgent focus of this campaign is to bring in public comment in favor of Tongass inclusion with the opportunity to hit nearly 1/2 a million tourists with literature on public land management. Benefits, fund raisers, and 4TH OF JULY PARADE Entry: The wise use movement has held Ketchikan in its grip for over a decade � this will be the first, very first, entry in the 4th of July parade in support of national forests. YOUR PRESENCE IS URGENTLY NEEDED. 2) WE NEED YOUR WRITTEN ENDORSEMENT. The truth: Resident businesses and locals in southeast Alaska are scared stiff of Murkowski, Stevens, Young, the local political gangsters, and chamber of commerce to speak up in favor of Tongass inclusion. If the Tongass National Forest is going to be a part of this roadless deal, it will take all of the support we can get from across the country and around the world. If you can�t make it to Alaska this summer, please endorse this campaign. Every individual, business, organization is needed. Its easy, add your name to the statement below and return via email to Donna at [EMAIL PROTECTED] as soon as possible. Please take advantage of sending your comments, we�ll definitely include your comments at our soon to be website, in media releases, and throughout the entire campaign. We (I) strongly support a final roadless policy that legally protects ALL national forest roadless areas from new roads, logging, mining claims, and other harmful development including the Tongass and Chugach national forests. Name: Org or Business: Address: Phone: Email: Comments: (don�t hold back!) For more information contact: /donna Friends of the Tongass P.O. box 1434 Ward Cove, AK 99928 (907) 227-0711 [EMAIL PROTECTED] "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right." -- Thomas Paine
